Condom with warmth imparting lubricant

ABSTRACT

A condom together with a lubrication composition, the lubricating composition containing a minimal amount of free water, and comprising one or more glycols, such that the glycols in the lubricant release heat and warmth when contact with compositions containing free water.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/598,366, filed Dec. 20, 2006, which is a National Phase applicationof international application No. PCT/US2005/005695 filed Feb. 23, 2005,which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/547,895, filed Feb. 26, 2004, the disclosure of all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the present invention relates generally to condoms, andmore specifically to condoms having a lubricant system which impartswarmth, or provides a warming effect or sensation upon use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A variety of lubrication systems for condoms are disclosed in the art.Some of the lubricants employed are sold or supplied separately asso-called personal lubricants, while others are applied to condoms priorto packaging. Some lubricants have particular physiological effects. Forexample, Heidenfelder (U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,188) discloses the coating ofthe interior surface of a condom with a local anesthetic such asbenzocaine to provide desensitization.

The instant invention is directed to a condom together with a lubricantwhich provides a warming effect or sensation upon use. This effect is incontrast to the cooling sensation imparted by conventional lubricants.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally provides a condom in combination with alubricant composition comprising one or more glycols. Such glycols,provided they are present in an environment relatively free from unboundwater, will warm upon contact with compositions containing unboundwater. Such warming of glycol based condom lubricants results in awarming sensation during condom use.

In one aspect of the present invention there is provided a condomcomprising:

A male genital engaging tubular sheath having an inner surface and anouter surface together with a lubricant composition comprising one ormore glycols in a mixture containing little or no unbound water, suchthat said lubricating composition warms upon contact with compositionscontaining free or unbound water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment of the present invention, either the interior surface,the exterior surface, or both the interior and exterior surfaces arelubricated with a lubricant composition comprising one or more glycolsin combination with a conventional lubricating gel. For example,propylene glycol and polyethylene glycol may be combined with aconventional lubricating gel such as the glyceryl polymethaylate basedproducts sold by Guardian under the trademark Lubrajel CG. Optionally,glycerin (glycerol) may be added. This mixture will contain minimumamounts of water, as the Lubrajel CG has some water present. However,for example, the 24%-34% water found in Lubrajel CG is generally presentin a bound form. Accordingly, the described lubricating compositioncontains relatively little free or unbound water. As a result, when thislubricating composition comes into contact with free water, as may befound in the bodily secretions which contact condoms during use, theglycerols react exothermically with the free water, resulting in anincrease in lubricant temperature, and the imparting of a sense ofwarmth to the condom users. This is in contrast to conventional condomlubricating systems which typically impart a cooling sensation to theusers.

Although conventional personal lubricants have in the past utilizedglycols as an ingredient, free water generally has heretofore beenutilized as a solvent. In such prior art compositions wherein free waterhas been present, as for example as a solvent, the presence of the freeor unbound water in the glycol-containing lubricant compositions acts tominimize any noticeable heat of reaction upon contact of the lubricantwith further water. Accordingly, the glycol containing lubricants foundin the prior art imparted a cooling sensation to users. This is inmarked contrast to the warming sensation imparted by the lubricatingcomposition of the present invention, which contains glycols within alubricant composition containing only minimal amounts of free water.There are examples in the art of lubricants which make use of the heatgenerated by the reaction of water and polyhydric alcohols. See US2003/0211161 A1. Note, however, that application is not directed to theuse of heating lubricants in connection with packaged condoms.

EXAMPLE 1 Preparation of a Lubricant Composition

A lubricant composition in accordance with the present invention havingthe formula shown in Table 1 was prepared as follows:

TABLE 1 Ingredient Percent w/w Propylene Glycol  20.0% w/w. PolyethyleneGlycol 400  45.0% w/w. Lubrajel ® CG*  25.0% w/w. Clycerin 96%  10.0%w/w. 100.0% *Lubrajel ® is a registered trademark of Guardian ChemicalCorporation, Hauppauge, New York and contains glyceryl polymethacrylate,propylene glycol and water, the water being present in an amount ofbetween about 24% to 34%, and said water being generally in a boundstate, unable to undergo substantial reaction with the glycols present.

The lubricant described in Table 1 may be applied to a condom in aconventional fashion, wherein a portion of lubricant is shot into theinterior of the condom and a portion of the lubricant is placed on theexterior. The so-coated condom may then be foil-wrapped using procedurescommon to the art. For coating purposes, it is preferred that 0.45 g to0.75 g. of lubricant be applied to the exterior surface of the condomand 0.15 g to 0.45 g of the lubricant be applied to the interiorsurface. A typical method of applying lubricant to condom surfaces, suchas is described in pending United States Patent Application 2002/0103414A1 (which application is incorporated herein by reference), may beutilized in connection with the instant invention for application of thelubricant to the condom surfaces.

To demonstrate the temperature raising ability of the condom lubricantprepared in Example 1, a measurement was made of the temperatureincrease which took place when one (1) gram of the lubricant was mixedwith one (1) gram of water. To measure this temperature increase, asensitive thermocouple thermometer was affixed to the surface of alaboratory hotplate. The thermometer was set to record the temperaturechanges at a rate of one point per second for a 300 second (5 minute)time period. The hotplate was warmed to body temperature, approximately98.6° F., to simulate in-use conditions. To further simulate in-useconditions, warm water, also approximately 98.6° F., was used torepresent vaginal fluids. The thermometer recording was started, andafter 15 seconds, 1 gram of the warm water was applied to thethermocouple.

A 4.0° F. drop in temperature followed the initial application of thewarm water to the hotplate. Although both the hotplate and the waterwere at approximately the same temperature (98.6), the drop intemperature upon addition of water to the hot plate was related to theequipment set-up and the test being performed in the open-air, whichpermitted evaporative cooling to occur.

The water on the hotplate was then allowed to come into temperatureequilibrium with the hotplate, and the temperature soon stabilized atabout 94.0° F. At that point the lubricant (1 gram) was added to thewater on the hotplate. The lubricant was at an ambient temperature (71°F.), which was chosen as being representative of lubricant temperaturein a typical situation prior to use. This ambient temperature lubricantwas mixed into the water. At that point there was a drop in temperatureof 9.2° F. This drop was expected as the warm water had to equilibratewith the cooler lubricant. Over the next twenty (20) seconds, however,the lubricant/water mixture spontaneously heated to a temperature of99.1° F., an increase of 14.3° F. from the lowest equilibriumtemperature of the lubricant/water mixture, and 5.1° F. warmer than thetemperature of the water before any lubricant was added.

This clearly demonstrated the heat producing property of the lubricant,which underwent an exothermic reaction, releasing a heat of solution asit dissolved in free water.

Although various embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed, they are not intended to limit the invention as encompassedby the claims forming part of the application. Those of skill in the artmay recognize certain modifications to these embodiments, whichmodifications are meant to be covered by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A packaged condom for a male user, the packagedcondom comprising: a male genital engaging tubular sheath having aninner surface wherein a coating of a lubricant composition in the amountof 0.15 g to 0.45 g resides on said inner surface, and said coatingcomprises about 10-20 wt. % of propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol andno unbound water; and when said condom is engaged on the genitalia of amale user, said lubricating composition on the inner surface mixes withunbound water from bodily secretions of said male user in an exothermicreaction to impart a warming sensation to said genitalia of said maleuser.
 2. The packaged condom of claim 1, wherein the lubricatingcomposition comprises at least about 30% w/w polyethylene glycol.
 3. Thepackaged condom of claim 1, wherein the lubricating compositioncomprises at least about 40% w/w polyethylene glycol.
 4. The packagedcondom of claim 1, wherein the polyethylene glycol comprisespolyethylene glycol
 400. 5. The packaged condom of claim 1, wherein themale genital engaging tubular sheath further comprises an outer surfacelubricated with the lubricating composition.
 6. The packaged condomaccording to claim 1, wherein the said male genital engaging tubularsheath further comprises an outer surface containing 0.45 g to 0.75 g ofsaid lubricating composition.
 7. The packaged condom of claim 1, whereinthe lubricating composition further comprises glycerin.
 8. The packagedcondom of claim 1, wherein the lubricating compositions furthercomprises at least 5% w/w glycerin.
 9. The packed condom of claim 1,wherein the lubricating composition further comprises glycerylpolymethacrylate.